Meeting Reports

Thursday 7 February:- Members Displays: Postcards

Many members brought along material for displaying, it was a very popular evenig with a wide range of topics, styles and history. Mike Houchen opened the evening with a comprehensive display of the lighthouses along the north west coast of France, showing picture as well as artist drawings of the wide variety of edifices that have been in use over the years.

Graphic representation of lighthouses along Les Phares de Mange

Ken Parrott put up a display of many aspects of Malta from the first postcards issued pre and post-1885, pre-paid and reply paid cards, Services freepost and censored cards and then historical transport and views of the country. Rick Willmott followed with his display of family history-related ships he and his family members had served on with many of the storiues relating to them. We were then priviledged to enjoy the first display by our new members, , showing well written-up examples of caricatures from Dicken's novels, which drew a lot of attention from club members at the interval. Michael Mawdsley put up postcards from his visits to The Hermitage, some from the time when it was first opened to tourists from outside Russia. Tony Arnold displayed five boards on three topics, general themes, saucy themes and a set of 100 cycles.

Following the break, Chris Wheeler chose the imminent valentines Day to display postcards "Popping the Question", followed by a rare subject displayed by Mike Trickett on the Davis Message cards from USA, started in 1913 (ending in 1959), they being in art nouveau and art deco style, containg pre-printed messges in ornate borders in colourful inks on quality card. Mike and a colleague had written up the catalogue of this broad range of cards, which was also on display. Finally Brian displayed cards on all sorts of topics from the collection he started when he was just eighteen, featuring a very wide range of interests.

1885 British Postcard from Malta to Milan	Free Ambulance Services postcard from Malta to Cardiff	Museum Station on the railway line from the then capital Medina
The SS Minehaha which sank in 4 minutes after being torpedoed in 1914	Picture of Rick's distant cousin, William Mitchell, who was on the SS Minehaha	The green-blue example of this stamp is listed at £36,000
Mice on Motorbikes from the film	Very early Christmas postcard	"Mr Pickwick in and awkward predicament"
Mr Winkle and Mr Pickwick trying to control a fractious horse	Postcard dated 1903	Postcard dated 1930
The Knights Room, The Hermitage, St Petersburg	Romantic Davis Message Card with loving reply from Charlie on the reverse	Popping the Question

(chris wheeler)

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Thursday 17 January 2019
Guests Mike Houchen, Rick Wilmott and Mike Trickett

The evening was divided into three parts with Mike Houchen displaying 90 sheets of his extensive collection of Lundy stamps during the first half. After giving a summary of the island's quite diverse history, having been occupied by many invaders over the centuries, it is now managed by the National Trust. The Post Office issued stamps there until 1929, when the new owner took over that responsibility by producing two values initially, the ½ puffin and the 1 puffin. Quite crudely printed, it is possible to detect each stamp's original position on the page, and Mike showed examples of this with partly filled sheets. Higher value stamps were later produced as were so-called tram tickets for use on the ferry. For postage anywhere off the island, mail had to be taken to a mainland post office where Great Britain stamps of the correct value had to be affixed for onward delivery. Air mail stamps, also with many errors, were introduced from 1935. Mike showed many forgeries, perforated and imperforated examples and a wide range of overprints. A continuous range of new issues, many mimicking those of the mainland were and continue to be released, but they also produe issues relevant to the island's own interests.

Following the break, Rick Willmot put up part of his unique collection of covers signed by cosmanauts. These started in Dubrovnik in 1978 when the Astronomical Society had a Congress to which many astronauts were invited, and where a series of covers were produced for signature. This convention has continued subsequently every year since then. Translating the descriptions from mainly central European countries is proving to be a mammoth task!! The third display was of postcards from France, with Mike Trickett covering three topics, Dinard, the Paris Flood of 1910 and the Eiffel Tower. Having made numerous trips to France his knowledge and experience shone through. His Dinard collection, now of several hundred cards started with a gift of eight. Dinard started to be developed as a leisure town in the 1850s and some of his older cards showed how it looked 150 years ago. His postcards of 1910 Paris really brought to life the magnitude of the flood and how the Parisians coped with it. The first postcard of the Eiffel Tower was an undivided one, issued in October 1899. Many others were shown, ending with a large one which had a gramaphone track embedded in it, and he closed by playing the song from it on a radio.

This was an excellent evening enjoyed by a gathering of 20 members, one of whom had joined that very evening.

Cover to Wales with Lundy stamps, franked in Ilfracombe, but marked as ""Delayed by Rough Sea"	Lower left pane of stamp sheet, showing the stamps available, in their correct positions	Varieties in the printing of Lundy's airmail stamps
One puffin stamp on rear of cover, with a copy of the Lundy cancellation above	Example from the Yugoslavian Astronaut Congress in Dubrovnik in 1958 with three cosmonaut signatures	Another example, on cover, of three cosmanaut signatures from the same Dubrovnik Congress in 1958
Postcard showing Le Manoir in Dinard from 1993	Leaving Dinard by tram	A biscuit company's promotional postcard showing the Eiffel Tower under construction narby

(chris wheeler)

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Thursday 3 January 2019
Members - Women's Achievements

There was a good turn-out for the first 2019 meeting, with nine members putting on displays. All admitted to having difficulty in finding interesting sets of stamps featuring Women who have made their names by Achieving great things for humanity. However, many sets from Great Britain were displayed, as were many from France, covering a broad range of art and science topics, as well as sport, royalty and entertainment. Stamps from Malta, Hungary and Tanzania also featured as did many about Coronation Street from islands around Britain.

Inez Solar from Malta, Writer, Artist and Musician, 1910-1974	Women featuring the embodyment of France, Liberty, Freedom and Equality

"A Cornish Holiday" by Dorothea Sharp 1874-1955, one of many works by female artists in the Russell-Cotes Museum	Margaret Mead, American Anthropologist, featured in a Tanzania maxi-sheet of nine "Women of Achievement"	Princess Beatrix of Holland featured as an inspirational role model on a Phillipine First Day Cover, 1966

Caroline Aigle, French Fighter Pilot	1917 War Widow and Orphans, the first French commemorative stamps featuring women	Canadian stamp from 1951 - the only stamp ever to have described the future monarch as a Duchess

(chris wheeler)

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Thursday 20 December 2018

Christmas Event, Party Night and Members' displays of anything but stamps

Over 20 members and guests attended the Christmas evening, enjoying the wide range of food and drink they had brought along. Once the meal was over Tony Arnold intoduced the Quiz portion of the evening with a "What is this?", followed by 76 pictures of items from the 1950s, though only part was shown or the pictures were from unusual angles. The winner got 44 right!! There were displays of beautiful ornate ceramic boxes, the full set of 2018 A to Z Great Britain 10p coins, fabulous model aeroplanes, buses and books on Falmouth which those present spent much time looking at.

Tony Arnold with this year's "What is this?	The Quiz underway	The ornate ceramic boxes

The 2018 A-Z 10p coin collection	Beautifully made and decorated model aircraft	Model London Buses

(chris wheeler)

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15th November - Winter Auction

Another successful auction was held this evening, with happy sellers and buyers!

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1st November 2018
Guest Graham Mark: "POWs in Britain in WW1"

Few of the Club members attending this evening expected such an expansive and detailed analysis of the life of hostile internees and prisoners of war, nor that there were 70 major camps of all descriptions with 700 work sites where the occupants were employed around the country. Graham explained that his display was mainly postal history, with many letters and postcards showing the camps and work sites, but that the theme was the story of the people involved as much as the variety of postal markings.

The period covered was from mid-1914 to January 1920 when the last of the POWs left the country. Initially German nationals who had come to England to avoid being involved in the upcoming War were given the choice to leave or be interned. However the port of departure was Folkestone but those arriving their to return to Germany were mistakenly interned. Initially they were guarded by boy scouts. However after inmate protests started, soldiers took over this duty. Graham skilfully picked out many of the camps used during this period, explaining their use, duration and the sort of work those encarcerated were deployed in. One example was at Hackney Wick where tools and parts were manufactured and then assembled to make Vickers sewing machines. There was considerable movement of personnel between camps, and some were sent overseas whilst others were brought to England. He highlighted a home in North Wales used for detaing submariner officers, their escape and futile attempts to be rescued before being caught again. He spoke of the nine prison ships, and showed mail relating to all these types of holding facilities. His last frame dispayed propaganda letters developed by the British Government and dropped over the lines in Europe.

Bob Small kindly gave the vote of thanks, for an exceptional display, and the Chairman presented Graham with a certificate and bottle of wine.

Graham with his display	Internees turned back at Folkestone	Postcard of Scouts on guard duty in 1914
Cover with Horsham cancellation from the Christs Hospital School Camp, with Free Post inscription, July 1914	Cover to the Commandant at the Alexandra Palace Camp	Cover from one of the Gravesend prison ships to the Aldershot Camp, January 1915
POWs exercising in the open at Dorchester Camp	Sewing machine made by POWs at Hackney Wick	Bob Small giving the vote of thanks

chris wheeler

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Guests: Blandford Club visit Us
18 October 2018

Two members of the Blandford Forum and District Stamp Club visited us this evening, each giving a 90 sheet display on his chosen subject. Patrick Reeves, Club Secretary, started with Channel Islands as his topic, concentrating initially on the early stamps of Guernsey. He showed us a range of the 1d and 2d values from the Third Anniversary of Liberation issue, with its various watermarks, and plate flaws, its use in Guernsey and the eight authorised post offices on the mainland.
After the break, Mike Spencer, a Cyprus specialist, presented the "Refugee Issues", explaining why they were first needed, their ongoing use, and the reason for their contuinuance even today. He showed the initial study for the stamp first issued in 1977, with a photograph of the mother and child used for the stamp's design. Three different designs have been used and these were shown on covers and together on the miniature sheet issued in 1999.

Guernsey's first "airport", on the beach, initially used by the Occupation Forces	First Day Cover of the 1d value from the Third Anniversary Liberation Issue	First Day Cover with the two values, issued in Manchester, one of the eight mainland towns sanctioned to cancel these Guernsey stamps
Study of the design used every year from 1977 until today	Cover with the Waddington's stamp, with the official slogan, 1987	Miniature sheet showing the three designs of Refugee Stamps

(chris wheeler)

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Members Displays - Open Class Topics
4 October 2018

Mike Trickett opened the evening with a wide range of postal items about Paris, including a humorous postcard, old postcards, letters, covers, stamps and two fake postcards. Also included were some rarely found Tuck postcards of the City. Rick Wilmott followed with an exploration of space travel, including some now very hard to find items, including authenticated signature covers, and cancellations relating the Rusian space exploration. Mike Houchen's theme was Rescue at Sea and he presented two frames of stamps, covers, labels, advertising sheets, etc. from countries all round the world collected mainly on one of his trips. Ken Parrott displayed stamp issues from Malta from 1860 to 1951 including the perforated Specimen issues from 1930. A range of different-facing watermarks was included. Chris Wheeler displayed two frames illustrating the achievements of Isambard Kingdom Brunel with a range of philatelic and non-philatelic items. Finally we were delighted to have Bryan Cribb's display of postard scenes covering the unusually seen views of villages in Dorset, a tiny part of his massive collection.

A Fake Postcard with Fake Stamp from France	Cover with authenticated signature of astronaut Yuri Gagrin	Rescue at Sea - cover from Norway with imprint
Two 1930 Specimen stamps from Malta	Postacrd (with view of Bristol Temple Meads) posted in 1904	Hhipton Gorfe, Dorset, one of many displayed of Forset scenes

chris wheeler

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Thursday 20 September 2018
Members Displays - Emergency Services, Medicine and Health

Mike Houchen began the evening with three sheets covering the history of the RNLI on stamps, postcards and charts, closing with some covers from Lundy designed by one of the Club's previous members. Ken Parrott followed with a range of covers from various countries, each showing different aspects of healthcare and sickness prevention. Also included were stamps from round the world on medical themes,including some charity stamps, such as those from New Zealand. Chris Wheeler put up two frames of covers, some with letters and inserts, addressed to or from hospitals around the world used in general correspondence or commemorating their anniversaries. After the break, Michael Mawdsley displayed a range of stamps on medical issues from many countries, including the non-descript 8c Canada example below. Alan King concentrated on the first French Red Cross issues of 1914 and the orphan issues from 1917, and also sets of New Zealand Health stamps from 1929 to 1969. Finally MikeTrickett displayed a wide range of postcards and stamps covering many health-related topics including Finland's first Red Cross issues, and a set from Greece.

Isle of Man miniature sheet commemorating the RNLI Founder, Sir William Hillary Three letters to Royston Hospital's patient Mrs J Jury Parkes Drug Stores, London, postcard of shop frontage Canada 8c stamp - World Health Day France - First Red Cross issues in 1914 Finland - First Red Cross issues in 1914 Finland - First Red Cross issues in 1914 France "Orphan" Charity stamps Rescue at Sea issue, extract showing the top perforation in morse code "SOS"

chris wheeler

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Saturday 8th September, 2018
ANNUAL STAMP FAIR

The Annual Stamp Fair took place with a steady flow of visitors throughout the day. Some buyers and dealers were very satisfied with the day's results, and the seven raffle prize winners returned home with happy smiles!

Setting up for the Fair	Checking the Raffle Prizes

chris wheeler

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6th September 2018 - Autumn Auction

Setting up

Although the number of participants was lower than usal, there was active bidding throughout the evening, and many attendees went away with heavy hauls of purchases, much to the sellers' relief! The new display layout was most successful.. Well done yet again to the auctioneer, his helpers and the accountants!

(chris wheeler)

 

Last updated 8 February 2019